PositiveBooklistGottlieb plunges further into the psychological depths as she discloses how therapists keep each other honest ... Some readers will know Gottlieb from her many TV appearances or her \'Dear Therapist\' column, but even for the uninitiated-to-Gottlieb, it won’t take long to settle in with this compelling read.

Raynor Winn

RaveBooklistAs they trek, the author’s disillusionment falls away. As though scrubbed clean by the salt air, she and Moth begin to cobble together plans for a new life. Though the two never seem to bicker, Winn quickly dispels romantic notions about the trip, describing pelting rains; cold, sleepless nights; and stomach-grinding hunger when they run out of food (or money). A beautifully written and deeply satisfying read.

Beppe Severgnini

PositiveBooklistSevergnini’s love affair with trains is as long as the Trans-Siberian Railway. Longer, perhaps ... Italy’s tortured political past gets full treatment ... Wry observations and gentle humor abound in addition to elegiac writing on trains and train travel.

James Sullivan

PositiveBooklistReading how Aretha Franklin took Otis Redding’s \'Respect\' to a new level in the cause of women’s rights is but one highlight in this carefully researched book. An index would have aided greatly, but given the complexity and breadth of musical influences and genres discussed, Sullivan can be forgiven for the omission.

Sophie Mackintosh

PositiveBooklistIn Mackintosh’s skilled hands, readers encounter this world as if in a fever dream and float on its characters’ disparate and shifting points of view. Book clubs may enjoy discussing the dystopian and feminist themes of Mackintosh’s exciting debut.

Ariel Burger

PositiveBooklistStructuring his book in sections like \'Memory,\' \'Activism,\' and \'Witness,\' Burger uses snippets of past classroom conversations to illustrate the larger themes; the episodic structure works. Ironically, in highlighting Wiesel the teacher, Burger further elevates Wiesel the humanitarian. Readers will find their own preconceptions called into question, as though they were in class, too.

Art Cullen

RaveBooklist\"An engaging storyteller, Cullen recounts the deeds (and misdeeds) of youth, but his writer’s passion shines when he discusses the events that led him to write the prize-winning editorials ... The moral, economic, and social history of a small town in Iowa might not seem like much of a story, but in Cullen’s hands, it is.\

Nell Stevens

PositiveBooklist OnlineA lover of research, Stevens falls under the spell of Elizabeth Gaskell, Victorian writer and wife of a dull parson. Stevens alternates chapters between her own life and her discoveries of Gaskell’s, using the device to great effect. When Norton finally visits Gaskell, a perfectly nice visit essentially goes nowhere. Stevens encounters much the same with Max. Such juxtapositions add up to a delightful read.

Sarah Smarsh

PositiveBooklist\"...this book is more than a female-authored Hillbilly Elegy. Smarsh employs an unusual and effective technique, throughout the book addressing her daughter, who does not, in reality, exist. Rather, she’s the future that seemed destined for Smarsh, the same future that had been destined for and realized by all the women in her family ... her story is a trenchant analysis of the realities of an economic inequality whose cultural divide allows \'the powerful to make harmful decisions in policy and politics.\' Elucidating reading on the challenges many face in getting ahead.\